Relationship Therapy in Seattle, WA
Trauma-informed attachment therapy for individuals and couples who want healthy, secure relationships, but haven’t always experienced what emotional safety feels like.
Online relationship therapy throughout Washington and Oregon
If you’re tired of carrying the emotional weight, second-guessing yourself, or feeling alone in your relationships, you’re in the right place.
The Quiet Reasons People Seek Relationship Therapy
for individuals…
You’re doing the inner work, but your partner — or the people you date — can’t meet you with the same emotional presence.
You tell yourself you’re independent. You have a full life. Friends. Work. Interests. But at night there’s a sharp, private loneliness you don’t talk about.
You keep being the “understanding one.” The flexible one. The emotionally literate one. And somehow, you still end up feeling unseen.
You don’t actually believe someone could choose you and stay. If they seem interested, you’re suspicious. If they pull away, you assume it makes sense.
for couples…
You want to be more open. More vulnerable. But every time you try, it either escalates or gets minimized — and it feels easier to retreat than risk that again.
Something happened that split the relationship into “before” and “after.” Infidelity. A secret. A betrayal you didn’t see coming. You’re still in the same house — but it doesn’t feel like the same relationship.
Even though you’re together, there’s a quiet question underneath it all: Are you really choosing me? Or just staying because it’s easier than leaving?
Trust hasn’t been shattered in one dramatic moment. It’s worn thin in small ones — defensiveness, half-truths, promises that felt sincere but didn’t hold.
Meet your Psychologist in Seattle, WA
Hi there, I’m Dr. April, and it’s really nice to meet you.
You’re here because the way you relate to yourself or to others feels harder than it should, and you want to understand more than just why.
I work with adults who are trying to function inside relationships that don’t feel emotionally safe, settled, or secure.
You might be:
Chronically single and exhausted by the same dynamics replaying
Partnered but unsure whether your relationship can truly meet you
Married or committed, where love exists but connection feels fragile, tense, or out of reach
In therapy, we slow down the moments where you feel activated, shut down, over-functioning, or on edge. Not to pathologize. But to understand what those processes are protecting you from and what makes those responses show up in your closest relationships.
Together, we work with the parts of you that learned how to survive emotional unsafety — the ones that stay alert, withdraw, people-please, or react explosively — so you can build relationships that that are healthy, honest, and emotionally connected.
This work isn’t about quick fixes or better communication scripts. It’s about creating the internal safety that allows connection to grow.
Therapy for Relationship Struggles in Seattle, WA
-
Therapy for Navigating Relationships
You’ve built a full life. You go to work, you keep things moving, and somehow this is the one area that never settles. You bring reflection, emotional presence, and intention into relationships — yet you often feel like you’re carrying that alone. You don’t want reassurance. You want to understand what keeps creating this gap.
-
Therapy for Couples Stuck in the Same Fight
You’ve had this fight before, even when the words change. One of you pushes, the other shuts down, and the same unresolved hurt keeps resurfacing. You’re not fighting about the present — you’re stuck inside a pattern neither of you knows how to stop.
-
Therapy for Partners after Betrayal
After a betrayal, your brain doesn’t stop scanning. You find yourself checking tone, timing, messages, and then feeling embarrassed that you still need reassurance. Trust didn’t just break between you. It shattered your reality and identity, so even small things can set off doubt.
Relational trauma isn’t just about what happened in the past.
It’s about how your nervous system learned to protect you in closeness, through withdrawal, over functioning, conflict, or self-abandonment.
The Strategy
-
Step 1: Understand Your Patterns
First, we slow things down and make sense of what’s actually happening in your relationships. Whether you’re single, partnered, or coming in as a couple, we identify the patterns that show up around closeness, conflict, anxiety, or emotional reactivity. Without blame or judgment.
Start with a free 20-minute phone call or video. We’ll explore your goals for therapy and determine if my style is the right fit for you.
-
Step 2: Learn How to Respond Differently
Insight alone isn’t enough. This step focuses on what happens in the moment — when emotions run high or connection feels risky. You practice pausing before reacting, regulating big emotions, and responding in ways that feel more aligned with who you want to be.
Most clients start off with weekly therapy sessions and then over time graduate to biweekly, monthly, and so forth.
-
Step 3: Build Safer, More Secure Relationships
Over time, these new responses become more natural. Singles build healthier relationships with themselves and future partners (if they want). Partners and couples learn how to communicate, repair, and reconnect with more trust and emotional safety.
We’ll go beneath the surface of the arguments, the anxiety, the shutdown, and work at the root so you can build healthy relationships — and feel like the best version of yourself inside it.
The good news.
Seattle relationship therapy helps you break cycles, resolve conflict, and communicate your needs.
You don’t change when you’re told what to do.
You change when you experience safety while telling the truth and learn how to bring that truth into your everyday life.
Integrated Therapy Approaches
-
![Person holding a dandelion releasing seeds at sunset with a silhouette of trees in the background.]()
Somatic Therapy
Somatic therapy works with the body because healing isn’t just a mindset shift, it’s a nervous system shift. As your system learns to regulate, reactions soften, emotions feel more manageable, and change happens more naturally.
-
![Close-up of a green leaf with water droplets scattered across its surface.]()
Internal Family Systems
Internal Family Systems sees your inner world as made up of different “parts,” each with its own emotions, roles, and intentions. When you get to know these parts with compassion, the inner conflict softens and you create more space for clarity, peace, and healing.
-
![A hand holding a lit matchstick with a flame against a dusky sky background.]()
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is really just learning to pay attention to what’s happening inside and around you, in real time, without piling up the criticism. It’s the practice of noticing your thoughts and feelings with curiosity rather than judgment, so you can respond with clarity instead of reacting on autopilot.
-
![A close-up of various smooth, rounded rocks and pebbles in different shades of gray, brown, and reddish hues.]()
Attachment Science
Attachment science explores how the relationships we first relied on create a blueprint for how we connect, cope, and feel safe. Those early bonds influence how we view ourselves and how we show up in relationships throughout our lives.
-
![Close-up of a koi fish swimming in water with reflections and bubbles on the surface.]()
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)
KAP in a therapeutic setting can help soften rigid patterns, open new perspectives, and make emotional healing more accessible. Paired with compassionate guidance and integration work, it can create a safe inner space for deeper insight, release, and meaningful change.
